a dad dilemma
by MeowingMusic
Summary: Rapunzel's finally been returned to her family, but shes starting to realize she might not know what a family is.


In a kingdom, in a castle, on a far away hill, was a not so lost anymore princess, just returned home, with her long lost parents arms wrapped tightly around her.

And Rapunzel was happy. Very happy. Although a bit confused about a certain king.

"Oh! We must have a festival, a festival grand and happy and loud enough to show everyone how joyous we are to have our princess home at last, we must make the arrangements at once! Quickly, what kind of cake do you prefer?" The King smiled down at her, and Rapunzel couldn't help smiling back, he seemed like a very nice guy, so she happily told him her favorite flavor, and he agreed that it was the best flavor.

And before they knew it they were all swept away by a whirlwind of things- tours, and food, and talking. Lots of talking and explaining and hugging, and preparing, and suddenly it was night and she was being led to a large spotless bedroom that she would now call home.

Exhausted by the full day, she fell onto the large bed dripping with pillows- one which she placed Pascal, and curled up to sleep, not even awake long enough to think much about that word everyone kept using, the one she soon forgot through sleep.

* * *

Rapunzel had been at the castle for 2 weeks now, and something had started to bug her, a feeling as if she didn't understand something that everyone else did, and a word she had heard earlier that day, one she had heard a few times now, that she didn't understand.

"It must be nice finding out your dad's the king." Marie- the maid- had said while cleaning Rapunzel's room that morning, frowning slightly at the painting Rapunzel had painted on the wall last night.

"My.. _dad_?" Rapunzel replied, looking up from her sketchbook. Confused by the new word, but at that moment Marie was called away, leaving Rapunzel with no explanation, leaving it stuck in Rapunzel's head all day, until, a little after dinner, she finally decided to ask about it.

"Hey, so I was talking with one of the maids earlier, and they said something i didn't really understand." she decided to leave Marie's name out of it, in case it was something bad, it didn't _sound_ bad, but to be on the safe side...

"And what was that?" The King replied.

"Well.. they called you my ' _dad_ ', and you know, I've never heard that word before coming here. So I guess I just wondered what that meant!"

The Kings eyes went large, his mouth turning into a small o and then he said " _oh?_ " like he couldn't believe what he just heard, and she suddenly worried that he also didn't know what the word meant, which meant maybe they would both have to track down someone who did, well at least she would have help she supposed.

She turned to the rest of the table to ask if they knew, but she stopped when she saw their faces mirror the kings, the whole table staring at her, eyes wide, mouths o's.

"Uhm... do _none_ of you really not know what it means?" she said nervously, chewing on her bottom lip.

" _BLoNdie... RaPUNzel_ , _please_ tell me you are _joking_." Eugene said in a concerned voice.

"No! Why would I be joking? I just keep hearing this word and would like to _know what it means!"_

"You _seriously_ don't know what a dad is?" the queen, her mom, asked softly.

" _No!_ Whats a dad!?" and at that her mom burst out laughing, Eugene following her lead "Why are you guys _laughing_? _Whats a dad, guys?_ " she turned to the king to see if he would give her an answer, but he seemed to be in a state of shock, she could barely hear his mumbled " _She's been here 2 weeks... she doesn't know what a dad is... shes been here 2 weeks, she doesn't know what I am."_

" _Guys!_ " Rapunzel started but she was cut off by Eugene and her mother falling into a new loud fit of giggles calming down only enough for her mother to ask-

" _ **Wait**_ \- wait, okay. Do you kn- know what a mom is even?"

Rapunzel was a little insult by that " _Of course_ I know what a _mom is_ , _**mom**_." but that only made them laugh harder leaving Rapunzel no where nearer to finding out what a dad was than before.

" _ **FINE!**_ If no one here would like to tell me what a dad is, I'll find someone _who will_!" she sniffed as she scooted her chair back and stood up "I hope you all have a good night and sweet dreams!" she said, almost angrily as she stomped out of the dining hall.

"There must be someone in this place who will tell me what a dad is! And whoever they are _I'm going to find them_!" she grumbled as she stomped down a long corridor and out of sight.

* * *

It turns out, finding someone who will tell you what a dad is was harder than she thought, and after asking _most_ of the castle staff, she still did not have a clear answer.

Peoples reactions to her question varied. Some reacted the same as her mom and Eugene had, by busting out in laughter, some just looked at her confused, some told her "That's the king." like it was obvious and hurried off back to work, and some just smiled and nodded and scurried off, not wanting or understanding the question.

It all left Rapunzel _very_ confused. Was it a bad thing, or was it a joke, was she making a fool of herself asking everyone what it was, this was the first time ever in her life that she was interacting with so many people, and she still didn't understand how to do it properly, and this was _not_ helping.

The next day she went to Eugene again hoping he would tell her, but all that happened was they sat there for half an hour while Eugene tried to think of ways to explain what a dad was, the conversation in the end only made her more confused, but at least he _tried_.

By the end of the day, she wondered if it was even worth it. Did she _really_ need to know what a dad was? Was it _important_? From what she had gathered a dad was: the king, a thing most people had, and a title for a man. so Rapunzel assumed it was some sort of royal title... a common one, or something like that.

A dad was a mystery that she just _couldn't seem to figure out._

* * *

Rapunzel was very excited to hang out with her new lady in waiting Cassandra, and already they had gone on a bit of an adventure, which meant that they were probably friends right? Yeah, that seemed right, going on an adventure=friendship.

But really, Cassandra was a nice distraction from the new nagging question of what a dad was, and while Rapunzel was dying to know what Cassandra thought on this matter, she had gotten a little shy about it after all the strange responses. So she decided she would ask Cassandra about dads only after she was _**sure**_ they were friends, so she held her tongue.

"You sure do like to paint huh?" Cassandra said, looking at Rapunzel's bright paint covered walls that Rapunzel had been working on for a while, the room just looked so plain without them, and also when she had first got here she didn't have any canvases so she improvised, and she quite liked the results.

"Yeah! Do you like art Cassandra? I could show you some of my old stuff, although a lot of it is back at my tower... on the walls ya know...and some of its not very good, because it's, ya know, _old_."

"Nah I'm not really an artsy type. _**Whats this**_?" Cassandra picked up an old beat up frying pan.

"Oh, that's my _frying pan_."

"Why's it all _dented_ like this?"

"Oh ya know, from hitting people with it, also max stepped on it once, and some rocks fell on it. It's had a hard life, the poor thing." Rapunzel gently took it from Cassandra's hands and held it like a baby, rocking it gently "It did so well though, yes it did, and now its in retirement."

"Oh." Cassandra said a little confused sounding " _I seeee..."_

Rapunzel returned the frying pan to her shelf, some people just didn't understand the importance of a frying pan she thought, when she saw she long line of books and got an idea.

"Hey, Cassandra? Do you want to stop by the royal library with me?"

* * *

"What do you _mean_ all your dictionaries have been checked out?" Rapunzel whined.

"They've all been checked out, your highness, sorry." the librarian said kindly as they organised the shelves. Rapunzel let her head hit the desk before quickly bringing it back up again.

"Well do you have a book on-" she leaned in close to whisper " _dads?"_

"Uh- I don't believe so your highness."

Rapunzel let out a groan letting her head hit the desk a second time.

* * *

A week passed, and Rapunzel decided it was time to ask Casandra, if she didn't find out what a dad was soon, she might _explode_ from curiosity, but she had to play it cool, because Cassandra was cool, and that's how that works.

"CASSANDRA! Are we friends now? I _would really_ like to know if we are friends! _**No pressure**_!" Rapunzel said coolly, nailing it.

"Uhhhhmmmm... _suuuure_ , why?" she replied back stiffly.

"Weeeeeellll, I was wondering, if you happened to know, ya know _, what-a-dad-is_?"

 _Silence._

And then a long sigh from Cassandra.

" _Okay_ , how long has that been eating you up?" she said rolling her eyes.

"I mean... _pretty much since i got here_... what is it, why can no explain it to me? _Is it a secret?_ "

"It's a boy mom."

" _what_ "

Cassandra sighed again "You know what a mom is right?"

" _ **Of course i know what a mom is**_! Why does everyone _keep asking that_? I'm not stupid!"

"a dad, is just, a boy mom. It's simple."

Rapunzel sat down.

"... _Thats it?"_

"Thats it."

"... _Thank you_."

"No problem Raps." and she ruffled the princesses hair.

* * *

Rapunzel came to dinner that night with a coy smile on her face, and waited for someone to ask her why she was extra happy tonight.

"Hello everyone, oh hello Rapunzel, why are you smiling like that?" her DAD asked her when he came to the table.

"Ooohh, no big reason, I just-" she stood up dramatically "- _ **FOUND OUT WHAT A DAD IS**_!" and she smiled somehow even _MORE_ smugly as she looked at all her loved ones, Eugene, her mom, and her _**DAD**_.

"OH, thats good, I was a little worried about that-"

" _Wait_ wait wait" Eugene cut in "Rapunzel, please tell me, _**what is a dad**_?"

"It's a _BOY MOM_!"

" HA, okay, okay, that's pretty much right, just making sure we were all on the same page. You can continue on your majesty."

"Well, I'm just glad my daughter knows who i am now, congrats on finding out what a dad is."

"Thanks, _DAD_ "

 _ **the end**_

 _disney pls hire me_


End file.
